


We'll always be here

by TimberedFir2048



Category: DuckTales (Cartoon 2017)
Genre: (implied) - Freeform, Brothers, Cute Kids, Dewey Duck Has ADHD, Dewey Duck Needs a Hug, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Nightmares, Short & Sweet, and he gets one, just avoid the first few paragraphs or so if you don't wanna read the nightmare, slight TW bc Dewey has a bit of a panic attack at the very beginning, you have no idea how much I love these kids
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-08
Updated: 2021-03-08
Packaged: 2021-03-14 22:40:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,390
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29923899
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TimberedFir2048/pseuds/TimberedFir2048
Summary: Huey and Louie help Dewey recover from a nightmare.
Relationships: Dewey Duck & Huey Duck & Louie Duck
Comments: 6
Kudos: 24





	We'll always be here

**Author's Note:**

> Just a quick triplets fic because I love these children very much

They were trapped. They were trapped, and they were hurting, and he couldn't do anything about it. He could only stand there, stand and watch and listen to their screams, garbled and agonized and not sounding at all like they should, but he still knew it was them. And somehow he wasn't really there - or was he? He didn't know. He felt disconnected from his own body, felt like a separate entity watching through his own eyes, and it was disorienting and scary and they were still screaming and he wanted to help but he couldn't. He didn't even know what was happening to them - but he was watching them suffer and he was listening to them suffer and he wanted it to stop, please, make it stop! Why couldn't he help them?! Where was he, that he could see them and hear them but not get to them?! What was happening to them?! Please! Make it stop! He tried to scream, but from his own mouth came their voices - wake up, wake up, wake up!

𝐷𝑒𝑤𝑒𝑦!

And then he was jerked awake and there was a hand on his arm and pressure on his legs holding him down and a warm wetness in the feathers on his cheeks and he was moving before he could even process it and -

𝑇ℎ𝑢𝑛𝑘.

"Ow! What the heck, man?!"

He froze. Everything was dark. So dark. Too dark. Why was it so dark? Where was he?

"Dewey? You with us?"

That was them. Their voices. They weren't screaming. They sounded...okay. His heart was racing, chest heaving, hands dragging across fabric, scrambling to find something to hold on to -

His hand met another, fingers twining together. He was laying down. His head throbbed. His eyes were closed.

He opened them.

It was still dark, though the blackness was not nearly as absolute. There was still a pressure on his legs, but it wasn't constricting - it actually felt kinda good. He liked it. He blinked a few times, his eyes adjusting to the dark, and a second later something moved into his field of vision. A face, not unlike his, twisted into a look of concern. A funny little nightcap dangled in his face, fuzzy pompom at the end tickling his beak. He sneezed.

A soft giggle came from a bit further away. The face above him smiled, looking immensely relieved. "There you are. You had us worried for a minute."

He blinked again. "...Huey?"

It was indeed. His brother nodded, and the hand in his gave a comforting little squeeze. The pressure on his legs shifted, and he raised his head, just a little bit, to look.

Ah. There was Louie, sitting on his legs, pinning them down. The weight felt good. There was a little bump on his forehead.

"Dew? You okay?"

Dewey took a shuddering breath - then let out a choked sob. He was moving before he even realized it, shooting up and twisting around to throw his arms around Huey's neck in a desperate hug, chest heaving as heavy sobs wracked his body. Huey stiffened, then relaxed and wrapped his own arms around Dewey, rubbing soft circles into his back as he cried. He felt Louie move too, scooting forward a bit on his legs to join the hug, another set of arms wrapping around his trembling body, and Dewey cried harder. It was awkward, and a bit uncomfortable, and Huey was a little too stiff and Louie's arms weren't quite long enough and Dewey was being squeezed a little too tight - but it felt good. It felt like home. They were okay, neither of them were screaming, or in pain, or trapped in a dark, dark place. They were here, and safe, and Huey was whispering softly in his ear and Louie was gently rubbing his shoulder and it wasn't long before Dewey's tears ran out, giving one last dry sob before he was able to take a deep breath, feeling his body relax. Huey's whispers quieted and Louie's hand fell still.

Dewey let go, and the triplets slowly managed to untangle themselves from the embrace. Having calmed down a bit, Dewey finally took a second to really process what was going on.

Huey and Louie were both in his bunk. Huey was sitting back on his heels, (uncomfortably) close to the edge of the bed, and Louie was straddling his legs, hands pressed against the bed on either side of him. There was nothing new about this - it was something both he and Huey had done several times. Whenever Dewey was fidgety, or panicked as had been a second ago, he tended to kick or bounce his legs almost violently. A constant pressure usually helped, so it wasn't uncommon for one of his brothers to sit on his legs in such a situation. It seemed as though Louie had managed to get there first, and Huey had then taken on the role of comforting the middle triplet.

Dewey's head hurt. There was a bump on Louie's head. They must've collided when he woke up. Ouch.

"Dewey? Do you feel better?"

Huey was there again, reaching out to take Dewey's hand once more. Dewey swallowed dryly, giving a slow nod.

"You're okay," he croaked out. His voice was rough. He must've been screaming - that was probably what woke up his brothers.

For a second, Huey faltered. Then: "We're okay," he agreed. "Right, Louie?"

"Yeah," the youngest promised, reaching out to take Dewey's other hand. He squeezed it. "You had a nightmare." It wasn't a question. Dewey nodded anyway, images flashing through his mind - they were trapped, hurt, dying, help help help help help -

Hands cupped his face and turned his head, and it wasn't until he was looking into Huey's eyes that he realized he had begun to panic again, fresh tears dampening his feathers. Huey's thumbs moved to gently wipe them away, lovingly rubbing soft circles into his cheeks - 𝑡𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑠 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑔𝑜𝑜𝑑 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑘𝑖𝑛, some small part of Dewey's brain informed him, a fact that their Uncle Donald had drilled into all of the triplets' heads when they were smaller, when crying was a bad thing, when it made them weak and childish.

𝐼𝑡’𝑠 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑏𝑎𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑐𝑟𝑦, their uncle had said. 𝐼𝑛 𝑓𝑎𝑐𝑡, 𝑖𝑡’𝑠 𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑓𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑙𝑦 𝑛𝑜𝑟𝑚𝑎𝑙. 𝐶𝑟𝑦𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑑𝑜𝑒𝑠𝑛’𝑡 𝑚𝑎𝑘𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑎 𝑏𝑎𝑏𝑦, 𝑖𝑡’𝑠 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑏𝑜𝑑𝑦’𝑠 𝑤𝑎𝑦 𝑜𝑓 𝑙𝑒𝑡𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑔𝑜 𝑜𝑓 𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑠. 𝐼𝑡’𝑠 𝑟𝑒𝑓𝑟𝑒𝑠ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔. 𝑁𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑏𝑒 𝑎𝑓𝑟𝑎𝑖𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑐𝑟𝑦. 𝐼 𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑐𝑟𝑦 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒𝑠. 𝑇ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒𝑠 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑖𝑡’𝑠 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑜𝑛𝑙𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑐𝑎𝑛 𝑑𝑜. 𝑅𝑒𝑚𝑒𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡, 𝑜𝑘𝑎𝑦?

They did.

Dewey sniffled, giving a soft little hiccup. "...sorry. For waking you guys."

"Aww, Dew," Huey murmured, and Louie made a little noise of disbelief. "Don't apologize. We know what it's like."

"Besides, you were literally screaming," Louie added, rubbing his thumb across the back of Dewey's hand. "It's not like we were just going to ignore you."

"Do you want to tell us what happened?" Huey asked softly, patiently. Letting Dewey take a second to respond.

The middle triplet shuddered. "I don't really know what happened. I just remember...screaming. You guys were screaming. And...and you were hurt..." Tears began to well up again and he stopped, struggling to keep his breathing even. He didn't want to cry again.

"Well...we're okay now," Louie said. "We're not hurt. We're right here."

"We'll always be right here," Huey added, putting a hand on Dewey's shoulder. Dewey moved his own to rest on top of it, managing a small, weak smile.

"I love you guys."

Huey and Louie shared a soft smile. "We love you too," Huey whispered in return, and he leaned forward and lightly kissed the side of Dewey's head, and Louie squeezed his hand a little bit tighter, and Dewey's fears melted away. Because he was safe and so were they, and they loved him, and they would always be there when he needed them.

And if anyone walked into the triplets' room the next morning to call them down for breakfast and paused in the doorway with a fond smile because all three had curled up together in the cramped little space on Dewey's bunk, well, they decided to just leave them be.

(But not before snapping a quick picture, because this was something the rest of the family would definitely want to see.)

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed! Plz leave a comment I live off of them


End file.
